As we drive through Kitzbühel, it is slowly getting light, but the sun doesn't really want to break through the thick cloud cover. But as soon as we leave the 5.6 km long Felbertauern Tunnel, we are greeted by the most glorious Kaiser weather in East Tyrol and Carinthia. Our stop for the day is Heiligenblut.
With the slogan Top of Austria
, the Heiligenblut mountain lifts compete for the attention of skiers. And indeed, the scenery that awaits us here is impressive. Hardly any other ski resort in Austria offers such impressive, high alpine panoramas for skiers as here on the south side of the Großglockner massif.
The ski resort itself is divided into two parts. On the Schareck, the gondolas go up to 2604 meters. Crossing the summit ridge, we reach some nice couloirs and arrive at the valley station of the Fallbichl gondola. The longest and best freeride run without additional hiking is the descent from the Schareck down to the valley station of the Fleißalm. Here in the second part of the Heiligenblut ski area, we still find the best snow. But as the afternoon draws to a close, we have to hurry to catch the last transfer gondola through the old water tunnel back to the middle station.
It starts to snow again during the night.
The next morning, Mother Hulda continues to be crazy. We therefore decide to travel to Bad Kleinkirchheim, as we hope to find lots of good tree runs there.
And our hopes are rewarded. When we reach the spa town, there is already 20 cm of fresh, fluffy powder in the valley. Without much orientation, we decide to take the Kaiserburgbahn and ride it up to 2055m. We struggle with the visibility for the first 200 vertical meters, but as soon as we reach the tree line, we let it rip. The sparse forests here in the Nockberge are perfect for these conditions. After 5-6 runs, we take the Strohsackbahn from the middle station. As the trees are a little further apart there and the terrain is steeper, we like it even better straight away, easily enough to let off steam here until nightfall.
Wrong world in Austria!
The news predicts an improvement in the weather for day three of our trip. But when we get up the next morning, all we see when we look out of the window is gray clouds. Friends report sunshine from the northern edge of the Alps. A topsy-turvy world, as Carinthia is known as a sunshine paradise. We don't like to call ourselves sun skiers, but hey, who can blame us. So we set off back after breakfast, but with the firm thought in the back of our minds to get back to Carinthia as quickly as possible, because there are still plenty of secret spots to discover down here in the south of the Alpine republic.